Bombina orientalis

[John]

I'm a big fan of Bombina toads but it amazes me how few keepers actually breed them in captivity (everything in the pet trade is wild-caught). Have you succeeded in breeding any? Do you have any of the other Bombina species?

[Kurt]

No, I have never attempted to breed them. Though they seem to try all the time to. Maybe I have all males. Maybe I should get some more, but I find it hard to get fire-bellies that will survive. Being wild caught, they are loaded with paracites and I find most don't survive. My current trio are paracite free and I want to keep it that way.
I have never seen any other Bombina for sale.

Kurt

[jody]

I have had mine a year. they seem happy. I expected them to grow, as I had them when I was a kid, and they were bigger. like twice the size. are their more than one variety, where one kind is larger than another?

[Kurt]

There are eight species in the genus Bombina. They are found mostly in Europe. The one we are most familiar with is B. orientalis, it can be bright green to brown dorsally and fiery red ventrally. The bright green ones are said to be from Korea and the brown ones from Russia. I have noticed in my collection that the brown ones don't seem to get as big.
Some of the other species we occasionally see are Bombina bombina - the European fire-bellied toad, Bombina variegatus - the yellow-bellied toad, and Bombina maxima - the giant fire-bellied toad. My understanding is maxima gets twice the size of the other Bombinatoridids. With the exception of B. orientalis, most of these toad are drab dorsally.

Here is a link to a picture of Bombina maxima
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...0000+0803+0280

Bombina bombina
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...1111+1111+4938
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...1111+1111+7579

Bombina orientalis "Russian"
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...0000+0708+0066

Bombina orientalis "Korean"
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...0000+0407+1263
Bombina variegatus
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/im...1111+1111+0023

[jody]

mine seem to be the korean variety. thanks for the info on the other types.

[Kurt]

You're welcome. It looks from the picture that you have one Korean and one Russian. Not to worry, they are both Bombina orientalis.

[tylototriton]

Like Kurt said, the Russian and Korean variations are the same species and can therefore breed. I personally am not a fan of those monikers because I suspect that you can probably find the two variations together throughout their range, although I really don't know. I haven't seen other species in the hobby for many years although I know that they are present in the hobby in Europe. When I had them they were always in amplexus although I never got any eggs, I suspect they were all males. I do know people know people who have bred them and I don't think its that difficult. The trick, it appears, is getting males and females. Hahaha

Alex

[justin shockey]

nice fire belly never seen one like that

[SludgeMunkey]

Quick question on this species:

I have managed to get a small colony of these for very, very cheap. I studied up on the care and breeding of them quite a bit.

My questions pertain to feeding.

Most every site and book I have read so far on them implies that dusting crickets is mandatory.

Is this true or is this a case of necessity due to a limited variety diet?

If dusting is necessary, what supplement do you experienced keepers recommend?